It began over dinner at the 2025 St Anton Arc’teryx Academy, when Victor Daviet, intrigued by my bus Rongo, leaned in and scribbled on a napkin: “I, Craig Murray, will take Victor Daviet on a trip around New Zealand in Rongo.” I signed immediately, the spark of a plan igniting into something bigger than either of us could have imagined. With Lauren Taafe, Zoi Sadowski-Synott, Jeremy Jones and his son Cass, and Finlay Woods capturing the chaos, we set off into the night, Rongo packed to the gills, heading south as Victor arrived late from Annecy, France.
 
Mornings unfolded like paintings, sunlight spilling over Aoraki / Mt Cook, the glacial blue of Lake Pukaki, paragliding above the water before dawn. Days blurred into one another: racing through Lindis Pass to Hāwea, surfing remote West Coast waves, camping on private airstrips under endless skies, and soaking up a sun that seemed determined to burn every color into memory. We climbed into glacier huts, where the snow glowed pink at s...